When our family decided to visit England this summer, we discovered a fabulous new way to go there — via Reykjavik, Iceland. We had wanted to visit an old friend in Iceland for years and now with direct Icelandair flights from Canada, connections to Europe, and no charge for stopovers, there was an opportunity to do both.

Iceland’s thriving artistic scene is best known internationally through the music of Björk and Sigur Rós, and the national arts scene is immensely varied. With a day to spend in Reykjavik (population 120,000), we chose to visit the Reykjavik Art Museum, which features one of the country’s most beloved artists, Johannes S. Kjarval; the National Museum of Iceland to learn about the first Norse migrations in the ninth century; and a walk past the stunning expressionist architecture of the Lutheran Church of Iceland, the Hallgrimskirkja. This may be the only church in the world designed to resemble basalt lava flows. For a more offbeat experience, try the Icelandic Phallological Museum with the world’s largest display of penises, from whales and seals to a few homo sapien specimens.

Among the many private galleries, we particularly enjoyed the i8 gallery, which also happens to be near the famous Baejarins Beztyu Pylur hotdog stand. For undisclosed reasons, locals claim that hotdogs are Iceland’s national food (we thought it was skyr, which is a yogurt-like cheese; or perhaps rotten shark). This is a great spot to have a snack after gallery hopping and checking out the Santa shops, which feature Iceland’s thirteen yule lads with their ogre-mother Gryla. (When you live this close to the Arctic Circle you take Santa seriously.)

But the true greatness of Iceland lies in its landscape and storytelling. You can see manuscripts of the great sagas at the Reykjavik Culture House but we highly recommend instead asking people to tell these stories, and then seeing the land they come from. As you travel north from Reykjavik through lava fields, around fiords and into mountain valleys, you will see the stunning Dettifoss waterfalls, and Lake Mývatn with nearby sulphur pools, glacial lagoons and geysers. You will experience how spectacularly the light changes over the mountains in this hiker’s paradise. The landscape is formed by a constant duel of fire and water, creating a palette that ranges from white birch to black sands, set against many-hued lichens and blue glacial rivers that grow luminous at twilight.

We were lucky to experience the north with our friend Jörundur Guðmundsson, a passionate fisherman and publisher of the University of Iceland Press. We explored the Jökulsárgljúfur Canyon National Park where he camped as a young boy, and we stayed in a fishing cottage on a beautiful, salmon-filled river. We met sheep farmers and an eccentric artist who assured us that he photographs trolls. We enjoyed tranquil days picking blueberries and watching for sheep which startled us as they popped out of dark crevasses. It is a country of breathtaking landforms, rare birds, delicate lichens and black lava rock. If you take time to talk with people along the way you will learn the fabled stories of the land, as we did in the Asbyrgin Canyon, which people told us is inhabited by the “hidden people,” and was formed when Odin’s eight-footed horse, Sleipnir, touched a hoof to the ground. We learned about the world’s oldest parliament in gorgeous Thingvellir National Park, and how the original Icelanders travelled for weeks to gather at their outdoor seat of government. Everywhere we went, people shared stories.

I love homespun pleasures and my favourite on this trip was visiting the local swimming pools. Iceland uses its abundant geothermal resources for energy and hot water. Nearly every community has a local pool that is open year-round and heated geothermally. Icelanders gather at their pools as though they are coffee houses, not only to swim lengths, but to tell stories together in hot tubs. We discovered that Iceland’s young people are highly fluent in English and happy to chat. As a family of three adults and one teenager we found something for each of us — hiking, swimming, fishing, art, a sophisticated cuisine and nightlife. And, if you stay long enough, and look hard enough, you too may begin to see the trolls in its magical landscape.

A teen’s favourites

I have been travelling since I was six months old, and Iceland has been one of my favourite places, from its northern tip with millions of blueberry patches and horse riding to the art-loving capital called Reykjavik. I experienced Iceland’s No. 1 hot spring, called The Blue Lagoon. There were silica mud masks and a steam cave and the water was up to 39 degrees Celsius, all fed from a geothermal power plant in a lava field just outside Reykjavik. It is open all year round and we met many warm-hearted Icelanders who all spoke English. Our hot springs excursion was a highlight, and of our amazing seven days in Iceland, one of the most enjoyable.

Sara Upshur, Age 15

If you go

Icelandair will begin offering four flights a week from Edmonton to Reykjavik Mar. 26, 2014. It already offers direct flights from Vancouver, Toronto and Halifax.

From Reykjavik, connections are available to 20 other European destinations, cutting the time it takes to go through more crowded airports in London or Paris.

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